URUGUAY
End of the line for Suárez and Cavani with Uruguay?
Marcelo Bielsa named his squad late on Monday as La Celeste face the Basque Country and Ivory Coast with the two veteran strikers omitted from the list.
Marcelo Bielsa has named his 27-man Uruguay squad for the two friendly games in the forthcoming international break. La Celeste will play two matches against the Basque Country next Saturday at San Mames and then take on Ivory Coast on Tuesday, 26 March in Lens.
The major talking point ahead of the games focuses on the absences of big-name strikers in Luis Suárez and Edinson Cavani with the Argentine manager leaving both players out of squad.
With the absence of Darwin Núñez due to the Liverpool player still feeling some discomfort in his hamstring despite playing in Sunday’s FA Cup fifth round game against Manchester United, general consensus suggests it would have made sense to include either Suarez or Cavani in the squad.
It remains to be seen if Bielsa will now overlook both forwards for the summer’s Copa America tournament with Uruguay cited by many as one of the sides capable of challenging alongside perennial favourites Argentina and Brazil.
Bielsa, this time around has deposited faith in future La Celeste talents with the likes of: Ignacio Laquintana, Luciano Rodríguez, Nicolás Fonseca, Nicolás Marichal and Randall Rodríguez all getting a call-up.
Uruguay squad:
Goalkeeper: Santiago Mele (Junior), Franco Israel (Sporting CP) and Randall Rodríguez (Peñarol).
Defenders: Nahitan Nández (Cagliari), Guillermo Varela (Flamengo), Ronald Araujo (Barcelona), Bruno Méndez (Granada), Nicolás Marichal (Dinamo Moscow), Sebastián Cáceres (Mexico America) , Mathías Olivera (Napoli), Matías Viña (Flamengo) and Lucas Olaza (Krasnodar).
Midfielders: Manuel Ugarte (PSG), Rodrigo Zalazar (Sporting Braga), Matías Vecino (Lazio), Nicolás Fonseca (River Plate of Argentina), Nicolás de la Cruz (Flamengo), Giorgian de Arrascaeta (Flamengo ), Federico Valverde (Real Madrid), Rodrigo Bentancur (Tottenham).
Attackers: Agustín Canobbio (Atletico Paranaense), Facundo Pellistri (Granada), Ignacio Laquintana (RB Bragantino), Facundo Torres (Orlando City), Brian Rodríguez (Mexico America), Luciano Rodríguez (Liverpool ), Federico Viñas (León).